Since mana isn't as big a concern as your health is, you can afford to use a Bubbling Mana Flask for one of your two mana flasks slots (Bubbling Flasks halve the recovery effect and time, but also remove the Frozen and Chilled debuffs). You will want to use three health flasks and two mana flasks.I think clubs are pure Strength, but I haven't seen too many of those in my playthrough. I've seen plenty of maces, but a fair number of them are Str/Int. Swords tend to either be both Str/Dex or pure Dexterity in this game. Since you're going to be heavily invested in Strength (more Strength equals more Life), the best type of weapons to use are axes.I like to add the life on hit effect to my Heavy Strike gem, but your mileage may vary. Definitely pick the gem that grants life on hit, as it helps you tank enemies for longer periods of time. Near the end of the first act, you will get your first support gem.Extra armor and a minor crowd control component, what's not to like? If you take more than a predetermined amount of damage within those ten seconds, then the shell explodes, dealing fire damage to all surrounding enemies. In essence, the skill encases you with a molten shield that increases your armor for ten seconds. The first active skill gem that you will see that is useful for a tank build is Molten Shell.The first few active skill gems you get will not be essential for a Tank Marauder build.Here's a bulleted list of helpful tips and tricks that have helped me with playing a tank Marauder so far: Guide to Iron Fist Alexander's Questline in "Elden Ring" Tips and Tricks for the Tank Marauder If I veer off into Dexterity-land, I can eventually get another stack of Diamond Skin, so that's another viable choice for my next dozen or so passive skill points.However, you lose one of the more important reasons to get Dexterity, and Dexterity is useful for just about any build thanks to the bonus accuracy, so I'm personally not going to get it. If you care not about Evasion, you may consider getting Unwavering Stance.Afterward, I'll gauge my axe usage, and possibly start getting some extra physical damage (given that I have Blood Drinker, I always have at least 2% life steal more physical damage means that I drain more which makes me tankier by proxy.) I am personally looking to get Armour Master, as well as the bonuses to armor and life regeneration located near the bottom of the skill tree.Well, everyone has their own opinions and playstyles, but here's where I would like to go. Check out what the passive skill tree looks like for me now.
Now that I have played more Path of Exile, I have passed the 30th level. Link to the Passive Skill Allocations of my Marauder (up to Level 30) Heart of the Gladiator (+30 maximum life, 20 Strength) Troll's Blood (1.5% maximum health regenerationĪrmour Mastery (18% increased Armor and 2% increased movement speed) Once you get Blood Magic, you can fill your entire belt with Health Flasks and not have to worry about mana ever again. It reduces the risk of sudden death by enemy attack, and has natural life regeneration built in, so your reliance on health flasks is reduced. In fact, I daresay that the tank Marauder build is one of the easiest builds to play for your first character. Building tanky allows you to survive said situations for a longer period of time. Not in a "you will die in two hits" hardcore, but you can't allow yourself to be surrounded by mobs of monsters for a long period of time and hope to survive either. See, if you have just started playing Path of Exile, I'd just like to say that it is pretty hardcore. It goes without saying that you can build a hybrid build, but this article is going to talk about the first thirty levels (give or take) of the tank Marauder build. Your access to health regeneration will be worse than if you focus on life. More efficient build for more experienced players. Who cares if you can't take a whole lot of punishment if you're inflicting a lot of pain every time you land a blow? Also, the Marauder's easy access to Strength passives allows you to mitigate some of the downsides of not taking a tankier build. You can hit much harder with your weapon of choice. If you're farming for items, you'll probably prefer to have a damage build. Your potential DPS (damage per second) is hindered, since you're focusing on making yourself more resilient, which equals less passive points to invest in melee passives. You also get some life regeneration passives so that you're not a complete slave to Health Flasks. You can take considerably more punishment.